vejita

I live close to the border of Mexico, and Im a noob to the whole scene, Im currently building my carputer, and Im worried someone could smash my window for the lilliput I bought. Anybody got some anti-theft ideas I could use.....?

MP3Car.com

 

trdcpu

border of mexico? your electronics are already stolen, or in the process of being stolen. alls i can say, is that youre better off with some type of anti-theft device, similiar to batman's.

brandon

trdcpu: that was just way too funy, pics and all
vejita: What does border-life and theft have to do with one another? Is there really that big of a problem with people jacking stuff and selling it in Mexico?
Well, here are some ideas;
If you are not fabbing your screen into the dash just unscrew it and keep it in the glove-box when not in use.
Someone on these boards was very creative and used part of a spiral notebook to make a face cover so that it looks like nothing more than a notepad affixed to the dash.
If you are fabbing it in then maybe you could cut some sort of cover out of plastic and glue little fins on it to make it resemble a heater vent or something.
Maybe get a pet rabid badger to sit in your drivers seat while you are away?

vejita

Yes theft is a big problem here. About a year ago, my car was stolen from my front porch, the alarm never went off..........I'd love to turn my car into the batmobile, but OH WELL.....

__________________
2002 Ford F-150 V8-Triton Super-Crew
Lilliput 7'' touchscreen TFT LCD Display
AMD Athlon 1.2 GHZ
256 MB Ram
40 GB HD
45% complete........

brandon

sorry to hear that
and I'll point to my previous suggestion of a rabid badger

nl4jy

That batmobile wasn't that secure. Remember what the Pengiun did to it?

I'll suggest one of those flame thrower alarm system they have in Africa.

daguju1der

15 gauge wire, completely stripped.
make a grid with 1 inch boxes. place in front of your lilliput. Wire directly to your battery. Be careful when using the lilliput with touchscreen.

I do not know the electrical basis behind this. Maybe someone can help you.

By the way, I am just kidding.

Rob Withey

Me neither. 12v isn't going to do much to anyone.

__________________
Systems retired due to new car

MP3Car.com

 

nl4jy

I know...put a hive in your cabin that is controlable through your alarm.

Alarm on - release killerbees.
Alarm off - killerbees return back to hive.

That way, anyone planning to break into your car will think twice seeing those bees inside.

euro320i

Yeah keep valuable out of site. No seeum, no wantem..

__________________

o/______\o
(oo_OO_oo)
[]o-----------o[]
'94 320i

CFlux

if you think that a car batery can't hurt you then by all means touch both terminals. It's current that'll get you, a car battery even though it is only 12 volt is more then able to supply enough current to stop your heart.

mykolJay

I have two ideas that i'm thinking about implementing.

First I am going to have the screen in dash but detachable w/ a magnet mount.
This works really well with me because I live in the city and only drive my carevery week or so.

and/or

You can rip off the face of a stock unit (if it's broken, even better) and lower din pocket and simply have velcro. That way when you get out of your car, it'll look like you have a regular stereo instead of a screen.

__________________
--------
mykolJay
99 Accord coupe
http://www.geocities.com/accordpc
My Project Thread on mp3car.com

hd54321

Doesn't matter if your equipment is kept out of sight...a persistent thief will always get what he/she wants. Check out this scenario....

You're driving through town and someone eyes your monitor when you stop at a red light. If it's a thief, they're going to think, okay, there must be other expensive equipment with that monitor....they follow you or figure out where you live and break into your car late at night. Regardless of what is in plain sight, they know that there is probably expensive audio/video equipment in the car

An alarm or taking your monitor with you aint going to help thwart a thief who has already seen what you have.

Our only recourse is to make sure 1.) Nothing is in plain sight when you park and leave your car unattended (this is just commone sense); 2.) You are not overly showwy when driving through town.

As a side note and to further explain my point...a friend's girlfriend who attends med school near Downtown LA went to an El Pollo Loco (fast food chicken place) in that area and she stepped out to get some food and take it back to her place. Within 5 minutes her driver's window was broken, all her medical equipment and her $2k laptop, which was stored in the trunk, were stolen.

Nothing can help you against a persistent thief other than having your wits about you.

-HD

Chairboy

Magnets mess up LCDs, be careful.

Superduck

I've touched both terminals of a car battery. I felt nothing. However, I've had several zaps from the business end of the ignition coil. You only need to get zapped by that a few dozen times before you learn your lesson.

The thing is, people are fairly resistant. (I know I am) Unless you're soaking in salt water or sweat, your resistance is probably in the mega-ohms.

So, car battery = 12 volts. Person = 1,000,000 ohms resistance. If I touch both terminals of a car battery - 12 / 1000000 = 0.000012 amps of current. That's not enough to feel. However, the secondary windings on an ignition coil are over 30,000 volts. 30,000/1,000,000=0.03 amps. That can hurt.

Believe me, I've thought of many ways to protect my car. It was broken into/attempted stolen six times in two years, while parked in a "secured" underground parking lot.

Good luck,

Kris

MP3Car.com